Spotlight on economy: ADP jobs and jobless claims

ADP on Wednesday offers its warm-up act for the official U.S. jobs report at the end of the week. The giant payroll processor releases its estimate of how many net private-sector jobs were created in June at 8:15 a.m. Eastern.

The ADP job figures move in the same direction as the employment report over time, but there can be big discrepanies in any one month. In May, for example, ADP said a preliminary 136,000 jobs were added in the private sector, while the government showed a 178,000 gain.

Still, the ADP report has the potential to move financial markets if the level of hiring is much stronger or weaker than expected. Investors will also pay attention to the May revision, which could be large.

Fifteen minutes after the ADP report, weekly jobless claims are issued by the Labor Department. Economists polled by MarketWatch predict the number of people applying for new unemployment benefits to hover around 345,000. Claims have been little changed in 2013, a sign that the labor market is not improving as fast as it was toward the end of 2012.

Also at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, the government is expected to report that the U.S. trade deficit was probably little changed in May, inching up to $40.3 billion from $40.2 billion in April. Imports may have firmed a bit in the month, while exports continue to move sideways given weak global demand.

Finally at 10 a.m. Eastern, the Institute for Supply Management is likely to show somewhat faster growth in June among service-sector companies. These firms represent 70% of the workforce excluding government employees.

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